


Norowareta-fū

by DancingRainfall_TokoToko



Category: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Canon-Typical Violence, Exploding Mecha, Other, Platonic Cuddling, Premonitions, dream inspired, not-shippy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24174550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingRainfall_TokoToko/pseuds/DancingRainfall_TokoToko
Summary: I had a strange dream. I couldn't remember what it was, but I woke up with a strange sense of dread and tears in my eyes. The only thing on my mind was warning you about what would happen. I wasn't able to tell you about it beforehand, but maybe afterwards...All I want is to see your smiling face at the end of this. Come to think of it, I've never seen you truly smile... Could you share that with me someday?
Relationships: Viral (Gurren Lagann) and OC
Kudos: 6





	Norowareta-fū

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone! Sorry if this fic seems a little weird. I ended up having some reoccurring Gurren Lagann related dreams, so I decided to write a fic inspired by them. I might actually write a sequel to this if I think or dream up something else for this!  
> For emphasis, this fic is NOT supposed to be shippy any means. I don't plan on making this fic, or it's possible sequel a romantic ship fic as of yet.  
> Also, while I do intend on making a Gurren Lagann oc, I don't think I'll associate them with this fic. We'll have to wait and see! ;D Well, I hope you guys have a good morning/afternoon/night, and that you have fun reading! ^w^

I woke up. I woke up and I felt like something was wrong.   
  
Sitting up in a mostly grayscale room, I looked out the one window I was given. The room I had been placed in was small. It had a small kitchenette, a table connected to the wall that had room for two chairs, a desk, my laptop and the equipment I needed for it, and a set of drawers that held all of the clothes that I had taken with me.   
Looking down, I saw that I had fallen asleep in my normal shirt and cargo pants again, and my phone, pencils and pens, and my sketchbook were all scattered along my sheets. I must’ve fallen asleep drawing again… At least I took off my shoes this time.   
  
Picking up my sketchbook and smoothing out the wrinkles in the pages, I flipped to the most recent pages to see what I had drawn.   
Most of it was just standard drawing practice… Drawings of eyes, of hands, of arms and legs, torsos of all shapes and sizes. Sketches of objects around my room, things on the ship, attempted drawings of landscapes I’d even seen, parts of the mecha I’d seen since coming here. Mecha that looked like battleships, domes, and pseudo-humanoid. They  _ looked  _ humanoid enough, except the majority of them seemed to have their faces on their chests. Looking down below a small sketch of one that I’d seen that seemed rather slender, holding blades in each of its arms, I’d written a small note.   
  
**_Gunmen. Not sure why they’re called Gunmen, when some don’t have guns. Ask you-know-who later._ **   
  
Flipping ahead to the pages I’d doodled on last night, I could see a few attempted faces I recognized. Some of them, I couldn’t place names to, the most prominent ones being of a rather avian-looking man and a rather frightening woman. Apparently, there were several doodles of various expressions with her: A grimace, a neutral face, a crazed smile, a disappointed frown, and a surprisingly goofy expression with her tongue sticking out.   
Well, goofy was a light way to put it. For some reason, even drawings of those expressions had a somewhat threatening air.   
The last set of drawings both put me at ease and made me even more anxious. They were familiar and calming, and yet I knew that… something was happening.   
It was a set of three unfinished sketches of someone with the same facial features: a young man with short hair, yet long bangs that covered most of his eyes. He had a very narrow and pointed facial sharp. Everything seemed to be pointed. His hair had this sort of vaguely shaggy quality and the ends of his bangs pointed down and two the sides, his nose was pointed, eyes almost constantly slanted, a sharp smile or frown, and sharp teeth as well. Even the pupils of his eyes.

The two expressions seemed very fitting. One of them was a cocky and vicious grin with sharp teeth exposed. The other was a frown that either showed grumpy disappointment or deep contemplation. It was hard to tell.  
The third was unfinished, although the man’s features were visibly a lot softer. Eyes weren’t narrowed to peer straight at whatever he was looking at, and instead were a bit rounded. As though some sort of kindness was being shown to whoever he was looking at.  
  
Who or what that was, I didn’t know. I wanted to sit and finally give him some sort of mouth to properly express what I wanted to have this little sketch to portray, but I **needed** to leave.  
  
Something would happen today, and something would go wrong.  
  
I sat up quickly, gathering up my sketch supplies, putting them and my electronics into a special blast, impact, and heat-proof box under my desk before grabbing a pair of socks and just sliding the miss-matched pair of socks on my feet before putting my running shoes back on.  
Actually, these shoes looked a lot different… They were a dark red and gray color instead of the blue and soft pink of the pair that I was used to. Not only that, but the material felt even more reinforced.  
That’s right… I’d gotten them not long after I’d gotten here. I had lost my old pair in an escape attempt that involved trying to bean the guards with my shoes, then running out barefoot. It’d been mostly successful. I had managed to get to the lab where these people had been keeping my tech, and grabbed at least my phone, stuffed my charger in my pocket, and then was about to put on my headphones when they’d caught me.  
Fortunately, I was able to avoid the beating I was sure at least that rather scary lady wanted to give me by saying that I had an intense fear of long, complete silence, and that I didn’t have any way to contact anyone in this world using it.  
  
Just in case, they placed a special number on it that I would be able to use to call someone at the base if I needed help, and they’d installed a stronger battery in it.  
Downside? The wolf-like Beastman who’d been guarding had torn up my shoes in revenge for throwing them at him.  
As much as I missed those old shoes, these worked better by far.  
  
Once my shoes were on, I grabbed a belt that I’d been given that had clips for a few attachable pouches, three of which I clipped on before grabbing my hoodie and tying it around my waist.  
Grabbing a couple of hair ties, I pulled my hair back both as a ponytail, then one more tying the ends of my hair together. I used a red bandana as a headband to keep my bangs out of my face.  
  
The last thing I did was stuff my phone into one of the pockets before opening up the door to my room and running out into the hall.  
  
I was just in time to hear the sirens signaling an approaching battle.  
  
It was some sort of organized chaos. Beastmen running back and forth to their stations. Engineers heading to where they were needed, strategists and those who worked on the bridge heading there, medical crews standing by… I saw a group of pilots pass me as I pressed myself against one of the windows to try and get some sense of bearings and followed them.  
  
I needed… I needed to warn him.  
  
If any of them noticed me, they didn’t show it. Either they didn’t see me, or they were too busy to care about a human’s presence. I looked around, searching at least for the Gunmen I’d trained myself to recognize amongst all of these strange designs.  
Silver and brown armor, segmented limbs, and between one-to-two pairs of arms.  
I saw it, _Enkidudu_ , walking out onto the deck, standing at the ready with several others.  
  
Fear gripped my chest as I could already hear the gunfire, I could already hear him shouting over the sounds of the chaos that was unfolding… I tried to run onto the deck, to try to get him to come back inside, but the clawed hand of a bear-like Beastman grabbed my arm and pulled me back inside, kicking me out of the hanger.  
I banged on the door, screaming at them to let me back in, that something horrible was going to happen to him and several others, but no one listened!  
Instead, I ran to the nearby window, watching as the battle unfolded.  
  
I could see that red mecha down on the ground… The name kept on blaring over and over again on the speakers, and I could hear him talk about it at least once anytime he and I spoke, or I heard him speak to someone else.  
  
 ** _Gurren Lagann_**  
  
My blood ran cold as I could see so many other Gunmen, likely piloted by other humans, all joining in the fight.  
It was carnage. I could barely keep track of the Beatmen’s and “Team Gurren”’s mecha. Surprisingly, all the while, I was able to keep my eyes on the odd silver mech with four arms like a hawk tracking it’s prey. Although, I wasn’t tracking it to harm or kill it or it’s pilot.  
I knew that something was coming, and it was terrifying me.  
I could see him getting ever and ever closer to Gurren Lagann, and I already knew that he intended to fight with the pilots of that strange and powerful mecha. Although…. I wasn’t worried about that.  
For some reason, with an encounter between those three, I knew that they would likely come out alive. Not one of them wished to actually kill their opponent when they thought.  
No… No, I feared the other members.  
  
I feared the young woman who was able to take down Gunmen with a high powered sniper rifle. I feared the town of similarly skilled people backing her. I feared the family of Beastmen Hunters that fought alongside them.  
  
I could see all of them taking down the Beastmen’s Gunmen without a second thought. I could see it in my head: an image of all of them collaborating to take down Enkidudu… They could do it, especially if their team leader was at risk.  
  
Although… they were all distracted with the full frontal assault… Surely, they wouldn’t…  
  
As I could do nothing but watch, I tried several times to try and call him with my phone, but each time the call was sent over to one of the other ‘generals’... A shrill voice demanded that I stop worrying, a deep voice said that it would be fine, and an angry voice said to stop calling the number or she would ‘March up there and give her something to worry about!’.  
Yeah… everything would be alright….  
  
As soon as I let a sigh escape my lips to try and calm myself down, I looked down to see three of Enkidudu’s limbs being torn off by a massive, bladed boomerang from Gurren Lagann. I could practically hear him swear as he had no choice but to retreat, using the jet thrusters newly integrated into his Gunmen to fly back up onto the deck and attempt to pull himself up.  
I hurried, running back to the door to the hanger, pulling and yanking at the emergency lock to force the door to unlock. I pulled and pulled and pulled until it felt like my wrists were going to dislocate. Until the palms of my hands were bright red, and I could feel every muscle in them burning with pressure turned pain.  
I let out a shout for the final few seconds until I heard the familiar _click_ of the lock being triggered, and I flung the door open and ran out to meet him.  
T-This was good! That meant that he wouldn’t be at risk for whatever bad omen I’d sensed! He wouldn’t be put in danger! Everything would be ok!  
  
I jumped down the last three stairs, making a B-line straight for the exit.  
I could hear his gasp of surprise over his external speakers, and then again as he scolded me, telling me to go inside. “ **I’ve told you, you Naked Ape, over a hundred times: You’re not allowed out here when there’s a battle going on. And NO! You may not ride with me into battle!!** ” I sighed. Normally, I would’ve snapped back at him for calling me a ‘Naked Ape’, but all I could feel right now was relief.  
Everything was alright! He was alive, and the other Generals that he cared so much about would return!  
  
The ‘mouth’ of the Gunmen opened up as he prepared to exit the cockpit of his mecha when I didn’t move off of the deck. I could see a little bit of platinum blond hair, some of a maroon and burgundy uniform, and even a large paw through the opening, and I smiled.  
  
I felt a huge explosion rock the hangar. I could see him fall back into his cockpit before I was flung back. I could hear the screeching of metal and the snapping of cables. I could smell the burning and charred metal coming from the damaged deck as the outer portion crumbled due to the hole the stray missile left. Time seemed to flow in slow motion.  
I **_screamed_**.  
  
I ran forwards, kneeling down on my hands and knees as I saw that he was currently struggling to right himself and use his boosters before he hit the ground. I pulled out my phone, trying to call him again when I saw one of Team Gurren’s Gunmen lining up a missile shot with his falling mech. As soon as it connected, I saw portions of silver armor go flying every which way, three of Enkidudu’s arms flying off, and the boosters sputter and fail as the lifeless form of his mecha falls through the air.  
  
Not even waiting for it to hit the ground, I lept to my feet, running over to an emergency rack to pick up and put on one of the parachutes, and stuff several first-aid kits of all sizes into the pouches at my hips. I took a running start before leaping off of the edge of the collapsed deck, struggling to remember what I’d learned about parachuting down into an active battle zone. All the while, I was screaming his name, as though I could hear a response this far up.  
Several times I was nearly hit with stray blasts from guns, bullets from rifles, missiles, and melee weapons on my way down. To my surprise, for several of those near-death encounters, Gurren Lagann had actually protected me. I could barely hear it over the battle, but one of the pilots had something along the lines of “ _I don’t want to see you or anyone else hurt because you were trying to help someone._ ”  
I wasn’t sure if I believed him, but I was grateful nonetheless.  
  
I touched down, discarding the parachute and running towards the wreckage of Enkidudu. I tried to pry different sections of metal, lift up rocks, and clear the way so I could make it inside the cockpit.  
Once I had….  
  
It was a mess. It was a horrific mess. It looked like there was blood splattered almost everywhere, parts of the cockpit were caved in from the blast… I could hear a faint, raspy breathing. He was alive.  
I shouted his name, slowly trying to dig him out.  
The smell of the smoking engine and the burnt circuitry burned at my nostrils and threatened to trigger that terrible wheezing in my chest. The hot metal burned at my fingers, causing me to take one step back as I pulled my hoodie off of my waist, using it to shield my hands and arms as my adrenaline-fueled body hefted each broken panel away from the cockpit entrance. Tears of effort, pain, and fear pricked my eyes and rolled down my cheeks, but I didn’t stop.  
Once I’d pushed a large amount of cables and the last piece of metal out of the way, I stopped momentarily to gasp for breath, only for it to be cut off by my own gagged cough.  
The air was permeated with the iron-filled scent of burning blood, and it made me want to vomit knowing where the majority of the scent likely originated from.  
Several swear words left my lips as I picked my hoodie up from where I’d dropped it, climbing down into what remained of the mostly-collapsed cockpit. I flinched, closing my eyes as an explosion went off not far from the wreckage of poor Enkidudu, causing my grip to slip on the edge of the opening I’d made. I slid in, shouting in pain as my left hand and the side of my right arm were pressed against the quickly-heating paneling. Quickly, I lifted my upper body up and away from the paneled walls, taking a second to look at my arm and hand.  
There was now an angry red splotch that trailed up almost all of the outside and back of my right arm, but it wasn’t an incredibly serious burn. A few more seconds, and it would have been. The same could be said for my left hand. Although, the blood that had now drenched it didn’t belong to me….  
  
I jerked my head up away from my hand when I heard a rough, wheezing groan. It echoed around the chamber, even over the sounds of the battle that was taking place not even a couple meters away from the collapsed Gunmen.  
  
I grabbed my hoodie, getting up and quickly moving towards the source of that sound. My heart clenched painfully in my chest. Like the man before me had lifted his arm up and driven his massive hand into it, digging his claws into the very center of my heart. His name slipped my lips, first as a whisper, then again and again, rising in volume until it was almost a shout.  
  
 ** _Viral!_**  
  
His body was slumped towards the side, only partially still in the pilot seat where he’d struggled to stay in place. His uniform was usually only slightly battered from patrol or climate, but I could see that several sections were now charred and torn, exposing cuts and burns underneath. His face had several bruises from where he might have been tossed around the cabin, his hair mussed and sticking out in more directions than usual.  
The most worrisome injury, however, was the piece of shrapnel that was now sticking out of his arm. I couldn’t tell how badly the bleeding was, since the color of his uniform in the red emergency lights looked far too similar to the color of fresh blood.  
  
Carefully, not wanting to exacerbate any other injuries that I couldn’t see, I tried to lift him up from where he was mostly slumped on the floor and back into the pilot’s seat. The motion still shook him a little, causing him to somewhat return to consciousness.  
Groggily, he scolded me, telling me to “G-Get th’ hell out… still not letting you ride….in here….”  
I let out a shaky laugh, retorting by telling him to shut up and save his strength. Besides, I would’ve eventually found a way to sneak in here anyway.  
I shakily reached for an emergency knife I kept in one of the pouches, rambling as I used it to cut the fabric away from where what I could now tell was a piece of glass from one of the monitors that was embedded in his arm.  
I couldn’t keep my mouth shut as I felt along his arm, trying to make sure that the glass shard hadn’t cut off any major arteries. I kept talking.  
I told him how my day had started, with my sketch supplies still scattered in my bed. I tried about how I’d remembered how I’d gotten my new running shoes, mentioning how it’d be hard to clean the smoke and dust out of them with their dark colors.  
  
It didn’t seem like any major arteries had been severed, and the glass hadn’t penetrated anything life-threateningly important.  
  
I kept talking as I pulled out one of the first aid kits in one of the largest pouches, having to set the metal box on his lap as I prepared the small bottle of alcohol and disinfectant. I admitted how I’d been sketching him and his mecha, along with a couple of the other generals, and told him about how I hadn’t finished the final sketch of him since I’d never seen him truly smile.  
I divulged about how I had a sinking, unshakeable dread that something terrible would happen since the moment I woke up, that I knew that something like this would happen. I bit my lip, falling silent as I tried to keep myself from having a panic attack as I got several pieces of cotton gauze, and two large rolls of ace bandages ready.  
  
Nervously, I let out a rattly sigh.  
  
Picking up one of the rolls, I made sure that it was tight and dense enough to handle the coming strain before using my right hand to tilt Viral’s head towards me, encouraging him to open his mouth. Careful of his fangs, I placed the large roll just inside his mouth so he could bite down on it when the time came.  
I used the right sleeve of my hoodie to wrap around the piece of glass, gripping firmly and being careful to wiggle it as little as possible. I grasped his wrist as tightly as I could, apologizing to him before yanking the piece of glass straight out with all of my strength.  
My heart wrenched once more as the sound of a pained gasp left him, muffled by the roll of bandages in his mouth.  
I tried to ignore the rest of his sounds as I quickly put on the pair of latex gloves that were in the kit and applied the alcohol and disinfectant gel to the wound before placing two cotton pads over it and securely wrapping it with the second ace bandage.  
  
Once it was done, I took off the gloves and tossed them to the side.  
Now, came the task of getting him out of the cockpit and getting help…  
I felt that once we were out, we wouldn’t have to worry as much about the pilots of Gurren Lagann attacking us directly, and perhaps even the other members of Team Gurren if the pilots had told them about my little rescue mission…  
I sighed, quickly packing up that first aid kit and putting it away. Best to worry about that when it comes...  
I picked up my hoodie, rolling it up as though I was preparing to put it on. Instead, I leaned over Viral, moving him so I could carefully slide his arms through the sleeves and over his head. Although, while the oversized hoodie was able to fit his general body-shape, I had to cut slits in the cuffs of the arms and a bit into the actual sleeve so I could fit his hands through it.  
I let him continue to bite on the ace bandage roll for comfort until I’d gotten the whole thing situated. Only then did I ask him to open his mouth and let me remove it. I tossed it to the side before grasping under his shoulders, helping him to stand up and lean on me.  
When I felt the majority of his weight on my shoulder, I cried out softly in surprise, almost falling down again before quickly righting myself.  
I tried to joke about how he weighed a lot more than he looked, but my smile probably looked more like a grimace than anything reassuring. Not that it got much of a response other than a tired half-apology before Viral drifted back out of consciousness. I bit my lip, taking that as my cue to hurry up.  
  
I wrapped his arm around my shoulders and tried to hold his torso up with my arm, hoping that he would be ‘with it’ enough to hold up some of his weight. Thankfully, that actually seemed to work! Carefully, we tried to make our way over to the hole I’d opened up. I tried not to flinch with each bang, smash, and crash that seemed to come ever closer to us.  
God, my heart was pounding… I could feel my breath quickening, I could feel my lungs tightening… I was beginning to panic…  
I couldn’t panic… I couldn’t. I needed to...I needed to get the both of us out of here. I needed to get him out of here!  
  
Reaching the entrance hole I’d made, I bit my lip as a realization struck me.  
I’d fallen in to get in here… But could I make it back out with a mostly unconscious Beastman?  
…. Only one way to find out.  
I stood by the hole, looking around to see if there was any large section of rubble I could move over to use as a step stool of sorts. ...Nope. I could use the pilot’s seat, but that was still far too rooted in place for me to even hope to move it.  
Maneuvering Viral and I closer to the hole, I stood up straight for a moment to try and reach up towards the ledge. I let out a breath of relief when I saw the palm of my hand reach the edge. If I jumped and grasped onto it, I could probably pull myself out. But with Viral’s injuries, I wasn’t sure if he’d even be able to lift himself up...  
Maybe…. Yeah, maybe that could work.  
I muttered a soft apology as I moved Viral so he could lean against the wall instead of me. The walls of the cockpit were still steadily heating up, and not knowing how much he could take of the increasing heat, moved to stretch out the pocket of the hoodie I’d put on him so it was big enough for both of his hands. Once he put his hands in the pocket, I was pretty sure that the cuffs of his uniform and the sleeves of the hoodie would protect anything that was exposed. After that, I tilted his head forwards just enough for me to pull the hood over his head as best as I could.  
With that done, I faced the hole I’d made and stepped back further into the cockpit, gritting my teeth in concentration.  
  
This was going to hurt….  
  
I poised myself to run, waiting and waiting a minute for the fighting to move somewhat away from us, counting the seconds between each blast.  
3….2…..1…. **_BANG!!!_** 3…...2…...1…… **Crunch!!** 3…..2….1….. NOW!!  
  
I ran straight for the wall, moving as quickly as I could in the limited space. The moment I was within range, I lept for the edge of the hole, hissing in pain through gritted teeth as I hauled myself up, feet scrambling for purchase on the mostly smooth surface until the soles of my shoes managed to grip on enough for me to finish hauling myself up.  
I panted softly once I was up, kneeling so my legs wouldn’t be exposed to the hot metal more than they needed to. My lungs felt hungry and desperate for clean air and oxygen, though they couldn’t get much over the scent of melting metal and charred earth. I stood up, looking around at the battlefield. I’m not sure exactly how much time I’d spent trying to get Viral out, but the battle did seem less violent than when I’d parachuted down.  
I quickly looked around for the tool I’d used to come here, finding it caught on some rubble not far away. Despite the exhaustion leaking into my limbs, I ran over to it, untangling it from the rocks and hauling it back over to the wreckage of Enkidudu. I hooked the actual parachute around a nearby rock, tugging on the chords to make sure that the fabric wouldn’t tear. After that, I tossed the ‘backpack’ portion down, moving it so it would nudge Viral. He jumped, shocked out of slipping back into unconsciousness. I told him to put the backpack on over his front and grab onto the cables, explaining that I would pull him up.  
He frowned, snapily saying that “I can haul my o-own ass up there…”, although his protests soon fell apart when he stumbled while walking towards the backpack, grasping onto it tightly so he wouldn’t fall due to his unsteady legs.  
I huffed, only responding with a lighthearted “I told you so!” as he reluctantly put the backpack on so the ‘backpack’ portion was on his chest. He reached up, grasping onto the chords and putting his good leg up onto the wall. He signaled that he was ready, and I braced my legs against the ground and started to pull up.  


God, even  _ with  _ the fact that he was helping to pull himself up, Viral still weighed a ton!   
A terrified scream left me when another missile went off nearby, and my grip nearly slipped on the chords. But, I kept my grip on them as best as I could. Pulling, and pulling, and pulling until I could see that Viral’s torso was up and over the edge. Even then, I kept pulling until he was completely over the edge. I tossed the cables onto the ground, running over and helping him quickly get the ‘backpack’ off, moving so that he could lean against me again.   
  
We may have been out of the downed mecha, but we weren’t out of danger yet… There was still the matter of finding shelter and signaling the others…   
I looked around frantically, struggling to still stay calm after everything. Stuttering, I was struggling to explain what we needed out loud while fidgeting in place, head whipping around.   
Where… There was the rubble over there, but we’d be too far out in the open! We could stay by Enkidudu, but it might overheat and who knows what would happen then..! Viral might not ever forgive me if I tried to signal the pilots of Gurren Lagann to give us some cover… Then where...what..? How? Everything was too loud… Sounds were mixing together… Sounds and smells… God, was that blood? I could smell his blood through the hoodie..! Was this…? How about that? Maybe… No, no nonono! I just….I can’t think….! I can’t think I can’t hear I can’t see..! My eyes squinted shut, and I started to curl in on myself. Everything’s blurring together I can’t tell what’s what and how and where where do I go where do we..-!?

  
The feeling of the large hand wrapped around my shoulders gripping my arm, claws only just pinching the skin, was enough to snap me out of spiraling. I slowly turned my head to look up at the Beastman leaning on me, only now registering that I’d started to cry.   
The shaky smile he sent me was far too reassuring to be the same cocky one he had any other time. He limply lifted his injured arm, motioning towards a cave that was in a nearby cliff face that seemed to be unscathed from the battle, suggesting that we go there.  
I did my best to smile back, nodding after I’d taken a deep breath to try and calm down.  
Just one step at a time…  
  
That’s exactly what we did. We took one step after the other, as quick as we could towards the cave. I was still on edge, still somewhat on the verge of teetering over the edge with anxiety. Every so often, I gripped ever so slightly tighter onto Viral just to make sure that he was still there, that he was still alive, that this wasn’t all just some horrible dream.  
Every so often, he would tighten his grasp back in response, grounding me and reassuring me that it was fine. He would do the same any time the sounds of battle would come just a little bit too close to us.  
‘ _We’re here. We’re alive. Everything will be alright soon._ ’ That was the unspoken message being shared between us.  
  
With the pace we kept, it didn’t take us long before we reached the cave. It was more than large enough for the pair of us to walk in and sit down relatively comfortably. We walked a little further in, just enough that we wouldn’t be seen easily by any enemies.  
Personally, I did now feel like I could trust the pilots of Gurren Lagann, but I still felt rather uneasy about the members of Team Gurren… Even if two out of how many other members likely wouldn’t harm us(or rather the Beastman leaning on me), I didn’t want to risk it.  
I moved closer to one of the walls, slowly leaning Viral closer to it so he could lean against the wall and slide down to sit on the ground, with me following suit.  
While he sat down a bit more carefully, being wary of his own wounds, I flopped onto the ground rather roughly. I let out a shaky sigh, pulling my knees close to my chest as I pulled my phone out the pouch I’d put it in, turning it on and opening up the emergency contacts.  
I found Adiane’s com-link number first, lifting up my other hand to tap the ‘call’ button. Although, I tried several times to tap it, but my shaking hands just couldn’t do it… It took me several more tries just to hit it.  


Lifting the phone to my ear, I waited for her to pick up. It took several minutes, which wasn’t a surprise to me at all, considering the battle going on. I let out a small breath of relief when she picked up, even when she raised her voice.   
“ _ Damnit, I told you not to call again!! I told you that Viral’d be ok, and that you’ve got nothing to worry ab- _ ”   
  
“ _....Ms. Adiane? Enkidudu was shot down after a portion of the deck was blown off, and the Gunmen was starting to overheat. I got Viral out of the cockpit, but he’s pretty badly injured. _ ”   
My voice wasn’t much higher than a whisper. All of my strength felt like it had left as soon as I hit the floor. My entire body felt like it was made from limp spaghetti noodles.   
  
“ _ What?! Why the hell would you do that!? How the hell did you even get off of the ship!? Ugh… Look, don’t bother answering right now. I’ll send medical your way as soon as they can get through. Just don’t move from where you are, got it?! _ ”

From what I’ve known, Adiane seems like a pretty cruel person, some going as far as to call her sadistic. She does kind of intimidate me, but going by the sounds of it, maybe she does care about the people working under her. I don’t know her very well right now, though...   
  
“ _ Yeah, I understand… The locator on my phone is still on, so you guys should be able to trace our location… Oh, and thank you. _ ”   
  
“ _ Hmph, you better be thankful! And tell that bastard that he owes you, and especially me! _ ”   
  
“ _ Haha… I will. Stay safe. _ ”   
  
Adiane closed the link on her end, and I hung up right afterwards. Pulling the phone away from my ear, I opened up the MP3 player app and scrolled through the music I had saved. It was only a few moments later that I felt a now-familiar weight leaning against my side. I looked over, seeing that he was looking at my phone screen as I scrolled through the music.

“So, what did she say?”   
  


“She said that she’d call the medical team to our location as soon as she could.”   
  
“H-Hm…. Anything else?”   
  
I smirked somewhat playfully, not turning to look at him. “She said that you owed me, and her in particular.”   
  
He sighed, leaning his head tiredly against the side of mine. “That sounds about right…”   
I frowned slightly at the current situation. Normally, I’d shove someone away who was leaning this close to me. Although, with the adrenaline long since worn off, how rattled I still felt, and considering the young man’s physical state, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Besides, there wasn’t anything wrong with some platonic cuddling once in a while, was there? I smile tiredly, shifting to let him move his injured arm to rest it around my shoulders. Once he was a bit more comfortable, I leaned closer to him and sighed comfortably.   
I lifted my phone up enough so he could see the screen better, handing him a stylus I usually kept in that pouch. It was something that one of the engineers put together since the Beastmen who were initially examining it couldn’t use the touch screen. They made several of them, so I was allowed to keep a couple. “You want to pick something for us to listen to? Just make sure that it won’t lull you to sleep.”   
  
He chuckled softly, lifting up his good hand to hold the stylus scroll through. I found myself keeping track of each song he tapped on to listen to the first few seconds. “Don’t worry.. I won’t fall asleep due to your weird music.”   
  
_ Birth of A Wish by Keiichi Okabe _

_  
__Devil Trigger by Casey and Ali Edwards_ _  
_ _  
_ _Depression of Cybernetics ft. Megurine Luka_ _  
_ _  
_ _Devils Never Cry from DMC 3_ _  
_ _  
_ _Gold Pilot from Homestuck_ _  
_  
Eventually, he stopped on a song with a rather short title. _Kuroi Uta by Eir Aoi_.  
I was a bit surprised, considering how the instrumentals of the song started out with just piano and a simple violin tune for about a minute and a half before the drums kicked in a little.  
Very quietly, I found myself singing along with it, closing my eyes and leaning back against Viral just a little.  


A slight smile grew on my lips the moment the electric guitar kicked in, along with the rest of what sounded like a small orchestra in a tune that never failed to make me feel like I was flying when I listened to it alone. Here, though, it was amazing…   
The acoustics of the cave echoed the sound from my phone’s shitty speaker all around us, bouncing off of each bump in the walls, each rock on the ground. The sound was far better than the little blu-tooth travel speaker I had back on the ship…   
When I felt him flicking through the list again as the song was ending and _ Northern Cross by May’n _ started playing, it sounded like we were in the middle of a concert.   
From there, that’s how the rest of our time went as we waited for the medical team to arrive. Just going back and forth, listening to music and making small talk. This was fine.   
  
The both of us were alive. The both of us were safe.


End file.
